Posted by g_g_g_unit on July 28, 2012, at 8:14:02
Quick question:
I take 1.5mg of Clonazepam at night for Parnate insomnia, and then 0.5mg in the morning for anxiety.
At first, I found each nightly increase left me feeling lethargic, stuporous etc. the next day, but this slowly cleared up. My sleep onset and quality is okay, but even with the 0.5mg, I get no control over background/peripheral anxiety.
I have a problem stimulant users might be familiar with. As you know, they operate on a bell-curve. Too much, and I get this weird mind-lock effect where I'm alert but kind of wired and can't think clearly, feel way too overfocused (to the point where working memory becomes choppy etc.). I take 15mg Parnate + 0.5mg Clonazepam, then 3 more 10mg Parnate doses split across the day. Unfortunately, 10mg at a time seems to be *just* a little too much for me, and pushes me into that weird zone. If I add the right amount of benzo, it can negative some of the stimulant effects, but at least fixes the problem.
Anyway, my point is -- I have to stay on Parnate for the next 3 weeks at least, because it partially helps focus and I have something coming up over that period where I need to be at least in some state of attentiveness.
My psychiatrist wants me to stop the morning clonazepam dose, and swap to Valium three times a day. I've tried 2.5mg of Valium on one-off occasions with 10mg Parnate and it left me feeling really stupid, but I know there's an adaptation that has to take place.
So I guess I'm wondering if my psychiatrist's idea makes much sense (i.e. Clonazepam at night, then Valium during the day) or if I should just take a larger Clonazepam dose in the morning. This is only going to be a short-term solution anyway.
The thing is, the project starts in about 6 days, so I kinda need to decide now because I don't wanna be battling cognitive impairment at that point. How long does it typically take to adjust to Valium and is it more/less forgiving than Clonazepam memory-wise etc.?
My other option is to maybe just keep the Clonazepam as it is, and lower my Parnate dose by splitting it into 10/15mg in the morning and then 3x5mg throughout the day which might be more tolerable/beneficial, since it's basically operating like a stimulant at this point.
poster:g_g_g_unit
thread:1022287
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120718/msgs/1022287.html